From: Gavin Sinclair <gsinclair@...>
Date: 2003-09-17T23:42:28+09:00
Subject: Re: HTML generation

On Wednesday, September 17, 2003, 9:34:45 PM, Alan wrote:

> Gavin Sinclair wrote:
>  > Please avoid top-posting.

> Why do people get so upset about this. Personally, I see nothing wrong 
> with it.

It's pretty obvious really; top-posting leaves the thread of
discussion out of order.  It is usually preferable to reply to a
specific context (i.e. insert your points among quoted text) than to
reply to an entire message.  Even if you want to reply to a whole
message, you don't know who will reply to you, and top-posting ensures
that subsequent replies, if using context threading, will be out of
order.

Basically, context threading (if that's the right word), combined with
judicious snipping, helps the cause of clearer communication, which
someone searching the archives in a year's time will appreciate.

I'm sure there will be heaps of dissertations on this topic on the
'net, both for and against.  There are also discussions in the
ruby-talk archives.

Cheers,
Gavin